College Planning

2 Oklahoma Boys Pulled From Class for ‘Black Lives Matter’ T-Shirts Two brothers, 8 and 5, were removed from their Oklahoma elementary school classrooms this past week and made to wait out the school day in a front office for wearing T-shirts that read “Black Lives Matter,” according to the boys’ mother. The superintendent of the Ardmore, Okla., school district where the brothers, Bentlee and Rodney Herbert, attend different schools had previously told their mother, Jordan Herbert, that politics would “not be allowed at school,” Ms. Herbert recalled on Friday. The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma has called the incident a violation of the students’ First Amendment rights. On April 30, Bentlee, who is in the third grade, went to class at Charles Evans Elementary in a Black Lives ...

New higher education literacies for a sustainable futureGLOBAL As the world becomes more interconnected and interdependent, nations face increasing pressure to improve their political, economic, social, technological and environmental infrastructures in order to compete in an increasingly globalised world.Within this context, perhaps the most fundamental and important component of any nation in the 21st century is its educational system. As societies become more complex – economically, socially, technologically and otherwise – so must their educational systems.To this end, nations have responded by creating diverse educational systems that now consist of many different types of educational institutions, including trade schools, technical colleges, community colleges, liberal arts colleg...

How to take advantage of college admission changes during COVID-19No matter when COVID-19 finally disappears, the college admission practices that changed due to the pandemic, will not completely disappear. In a recent webinar, I discussed how the pandemic has impacted college admissions in significant ways and how families can take advantage of these changes going forward. [embedded content] COVID-19 and College Admissions Here are some COVID-19 developments that you should know about: 1.  The vast majority of colleges and universities are now test-optional. That includes more than 90% of all highly selective and elite schools. 2. Because two-year-old tax returns are used when completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and the CSS Profile, many a family’s financial informatio...

Researching whether a college will closeFor most colleges and universities, competing for high school seniors has been a cutthroat Hunger Games exercise for many years. Before the pandemic hit, the majority of colleges were failing to meet their freshmen admission goals every year. At the start of the pandemic, some respected higher-ed observers predicted that many colleges would close by the summer, but that hasn’t happened. So far, most schools are still open for business. Whether this will last, remains an open question. Whatever happens, it makes sense to do your own research on whether colleges on your child’s list are financially stable. Resources to evaluate a college’s financial health To help you with that task, I’m sharing some new and old resources that attempt to divine how fin...

8 Tips For Freshman Year In College: Make The Best Out Of It!The first day of college can be nerve wrecking for many students. So, today we are going to be giving out some of the best tips for freshman year in college that will help you out throughout the year. So, get ready to enter into a whole new world with endless possibilities and a vision of a bright future. Every student would have big hopes and dreams about their college. The journey so far would have been a memorable one. But hey, gear up to find much more in your college. Are you ready? Without further ado, let’s jump right into it! 8 Tips For Freshman Year in College Does the word college resonate with the word fear for you? Knock that fear and anxiety out of your system because you’re a freshman and have the potential to be an...

A Decade of U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools! On April 22, the U.S. Department of Education named the 2021 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools (ED-GRS), District Sustainability Awardees, and Postsecondary Sustainability Awardees. Across the country, 27 schools, three early learning centers, five districts, and five postsecondary institutions are recognized for their innovative efforts to reduce environmental impacts and utility costs, improve health and wellness, and ensure effective education. The honorees were named from a pool of candidates nominated by 20 states. The 2021 cohort include 24 public schools – among them, five charter schools and one magnet school – as well as three nonpublic schools. More than half of the honorees are in communities where mo...

How Your Social Media Can Actually Help You Get Into CollegeThe internet is an integral part of most people’s lives nowadays, with every thought being documented online. But how will your social media accounts affect your college applications? Not every school or admissions officer looks at applicants’ social media, but when they do, what you post can absolutely have a positive or negative effect on their perception of you. Lots is written about the negative, and some students (and more parents) are tempted to just take everything down and go dark. It’s no surprise with the rise of Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram and dozens of other platforms that your social media now plays a role in public image. The question is, how can you leverage it? Clean up the bad. Comb through your social...

Make Up For The Cancelled 10th Boards- The Profile Building Program1.4 Million. That’s the number of students who had registered for the CBSE 10th boards this year.  Now, with the 10th board exams already canceled, these students will be assessed based on their internals and practical marks. And just in case a student is dissatisfied with the scores from the above assessments, he or she has the option to apply for the 10th board exams later. Situation Now The most popular question that’s been doing the rounds since the news broke: Will the above assessment metrics hold enough individual credibility for the students in the future? Because let’s be honest, the grades of a student in a competitive exam are the very first metric that is put into evaluation in any selection process. Be it only ...

‘Grasp’ and the Post-Pandemic UniversityGrasp: The Science Transforming How We Learn by Sanjay Sarma and Luke Yoquinto Published in August of 2020. Before we talk about why Grasp is an important contribution to the literature on learning science and higher education change, we need to talk about how this book is written. Grasp is an absolute pleasure to read. Rarely are academic books written with such attention to style. The quality of the writing in Grasp raises, at least for me, a couple of questions. My first question is about the audience. Is Grasp intended for a specialized audience of academic educators and university leaders? Or is Grasp written for a non-specialized readership - say, anyone outside of academia interested in how the scientific understanding of learning is evolving?...

A Great Free Book on Campus Finances That You Should ReadDuring the past decade, higher education came under attack from all sides. Critics on the right complained about declining academic standards and rigor and the suppression of free speech, while those on the left called out overpaid senior leadership and administrative bloat and, at times, an overemphasis on research at the expense of teaching and vocationalism at the expense of the liberal arts. Despite disagreement about the root causes, all sides agreed that tuition and student and parental debt were far too high and graduation rates much too low. A belief that graduates were ill-prepared for the workforce also gained widespread acceptance. Efforts to elevate the conversation about higher education finance, however, have fallen lar...

The importance of developing cultural intelligenceUNITED KINGDOM-UNITED STATES As two of the top host countries in the world, the United States and United Kingdom have long benefited from attracting large numbers of international students. Internationalisation dialogue and policy have primarily focused on income and reputational growth. Currently, both countries have a political climate that is challenging for those engaged in recruitment.We would argue that although income is, of course, important, of equal importance is the opportunity for our home students to learn in an international learning environment and for all students enrolled at our universities to foster the capability to be effective contributors in our diverse societies and globalised workplaces. This is what should be dr...

A breathtaking shift from autocracy to an open HE systemUZBEKISTAN The higher education landscape in Uzbekistan, Central Asia, has been changing rapidly over the past three years. Since the passing of Uzbekistan’s first president, Islam Karimov, in 2016, who had been in power since 1991, the country has seen an about-face under the leadership of his successor, Shavkat Mirziyoyev.Under Mirziyoyev, a swathe of policies aim to transform higher education into what one government minister has called ‘Universities 3.0’.These policies will give universities more autonomy to choose their own leaders and to manage their own affairs through their governing bodies, will give universities greater control over student numbers and course offerings and will liberalise price controls on tuition fees an...

I’m A Parent – What Should I Be Doing While My Child Applies To Colleges?Parents may be watching as your child gets ready to fly the nest, but there’s still more for you to do first! Provide support without taking over. It can be hard for parents to let students take the lead during college applications, but it’s crucial. You can – and should – be a cheerleader for your child, you can offer advice and help, but your role is that of an assistant, not a manager. Your child should take the lead, with you staying at the periphery. Check in to help your child stay on track. It’s a good idea to schedule regular check-ins, whether it be once a week or once a month. Your child can come to you with issues at any time, but regular check-ins allow you to gauge their mental state, any concerns they h...